On Mar. 25. 2025, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published its view on the pathogen families that could pose the greatest risk to public health, in a bid to focus and guide preparedness efforts against these threats.

The list of 24 pathogen families, a reference tool to help guide research and development investment in England, is the first specifically designed to consider both global public health threats as well as those most relevant to a UK population.  

It provides information on pathogen families where UKHSA believes further research would be most beneficial to boost preparedness against future biosecurity risks, particularly around diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. Research and development across a range of other pathogen families not on this list also remains vital.

For each viral family included in the tool, an indicative rating of high, moderate, or low pandemic and epidemic potential is suggested. These ratings are the opinions of scientific experts within UKHSA, who have considered routes of transmission and severity of disease arising from pathogens in each family to inform the ratings.

This includes those pathogens where we need increased vaccine or diagnostics development, or those which may be exacerbated by a changing climate or antimicrobial resistance.